A 10-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli gunfire following clashes between troops and protesters demonstrating against the West Bank barrier yesterday.

The Israeli military said it would mount an investigation into the shooting of Ahmed Moussa, which comes just three weeks after an Israeli soldier was captured on video firing at close range a baton round at a Palestinian man who was blindfolded and cuffed.

The incidents occurred in the village of Ni’ilin, near Ramallah, where Palestinian and international protesters regularly rally to demonstrate against the barrier – which cuts the community off from its farmland and protects the Jewish settlements built illegally, according to international law, inside the West Bank.

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Protests often turn violent when stone-throwing youths are confronted by Israeli soldiers firing teargas and ammunition. Scores of Palestinians and troops have been injured over the past few months.

According to witnesses, soldiers fired tear gas and live bullets at the protesters trying to scale a temporary fence, erected to stop them reaching the bulldozers used to clear land to build the barrier. Others said baton rounds had been used.

One regular demonstrator, Jonathon Pollock, said that 18 people were injured.